CAIRO: When Israel launched Operation Cast Lead on Gaza, it simultaneously launched a media war in an attempt to justify its offensive. But instead of limiting itself to conventional mainstream media, Israel utilized the relatively-new blogsphere and other popular websites such as YouTube. Maj. Avital Leibovich, head of the Israeli Defense Forces' foreign press branch, was quoted in the Jerusalem Post as saying, "The blogsphere and new media are another war zone. We have to be relevant there. Since it started its assaults on Gaza, Israel has barred foreign journalists from entering the war zone, which, according to one online commentator, is "effectively pulling the blinds over events within the Strip. The Israeli government has resorted to popular websites to reach the masses around the world. The Israeli forces launched a YouTube channel on Dec. 29 (two days after the attacks started), and has so far managed to attract 19,056 subscribers and 1,530,267 views. "The IDF Spokesperson's Unit is the Israel Defense Forces' professional body responsible for media and public relations in Israel and around the world. This is our new site that will help us do so. We thank you for visiting us and will continue to update this site with documentation of the IDF's humane action and operational success in Operation Cast Lead, reads a statement on their homepage. The latest video posted was titled "IDF Captures Hamas Intelligence Map which in three days has been viewed 32,536 times. A description of the video reads, "Hamas turns a Gaza neighborhood into a war zone. This map, confiscated Wednesday [Jan. 7] by IDF paratroopers operating in the north of Gaza, shows how Hamas uses an entire neighborhood, rigging it with explosive devices and putting the entire civilian population at great risk. But videos are not only addressing the general public. The video "A Message to the People of Gaza from the Israeli Defense Army features a soldier speaking to "the residents of Gaza who are hostages of Hamas . This terrorist group is taking advantage of the Palestinians whom Israel wants to live with in peace, he says. The video, which is available in both English and Arabic, has been viewed 55,293 times in four days. The IDF claims that some of its videos were removed by YouTube. "We are saddened that YouTube has taken down some of our exclusive footage showing the IDF's operational success in operation Cast Lead against Hamas extremists in the Gaza Strip. ...It is also worth noting that one of the videos removed had the highest number of hits (over 10,000) at the time of its removal, a message on their website read. The IDF Spokesperson's Unit also uses an online blog "to post official announcements and photographs and generally to make information easily accessible to those who are interested. The blog includes a daily summary of the IDF's operations. On Jan.12, the blog read, "Ground forces were involved in a number of incidents in which several armed operatives were hit. Throughout the night, approximately 30 terror operatives were hit. Fire was opened at IDF forces from the yard of a mosque, the forces returned fire. Forces also spotted a number of terror operatives planting explosive devices in the outskirts of Gaza City and directed aerial forces that struck them. Different weapons were uncovered in a number of incidents including four mortar launchers, an explosive device, a vest and a camera. On the same day, the death toll in Gaza passed 900. In a commentary in the Guardian, Rachel Shabi, writes "Winning the media war: Twitter, YouTube, blogs - Israel has proved a master of networking. Shame it's being used to promote a bloody conflict. "It got world media repeating the Israeli government's core messages practically verbatim. Those messages boil down to, and I'm paraphrasing here: 'Hamas is a vile terrorist group; they started it, and you must support Israel's defensive war because we're civilized, just like you.' For just one glimmer of the success rate, check how many of the US media talking heads collated by the Daily Show use the Israeli government's own analogy to explain the assaults on Gaza. Another popular website used by the Israeli government is Twitter, a free service that allows users to communicate through the exchange of quick and frequent messages. The IDF has been hosting virtual press conferences on Twitter and sending continuous updates out to subscribers. Shabi notes that the Palestinians don't stand a chance against the online campaign. "While Israeli PR is strong and strategic, Palestinian PR is hopeless. The rift between the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank and the Hamas government in Gaza means that there are no clear messages and no real capacity to counter Israeli officials, she writes. Nathan Hodge, an American blogger, notes Israel's campaign to dominate the blogsphere. In his blog entry "YouTube, Twitter: Weapons in Israel's Info War he writes, "It's pretty interesting to see the Israeli-Palestinian conflict reduced to tweets of 140 characters or less: 'We have to protect our citizens too [.] we're not at war with the PAL people, we're at war with a group declared by the EU and US a terrorist organization.' One American blogger packed his bags and went out to the Egyptian-Gaza border. On his blog, "On Gaza's Border: In Rafah and Al-Arish, Josh Leffler has been posting photos and stories from the Egyptian side of the border with Gaza. "I want to show a glimpse of the tragedy of the war waged on the Palestinians. I don't think that the American media is doing a fair job of covering this. Even if only my friends and family back home see what I see then that is positive. Media expert Hamdy Hassan, a professor and vice president of Misr International University, was not surprised by Israel's use of the internet in the war on Gaza. "Any country involved in a war uses all possible methods to justify its position, which is what Israel is doing, it wants to justify what it is doing in Gaza, he says. "The problem is while Israel has a strong stance, which it is advertising and marketing to the world, the Arabs and Palestinians are divided, they haven't united on a single position so they are sending out multiple messages to the world. Therefore, nothing can stand in front of the media Israel is using. However those who face Israel in the war zone on the internet are the young people who must effectively use this media, explained Hassan. "This is a war of information in which the internet is used to the furthest extent, what we need is a united and clear stance, which we are still lacking on two levels; the people and the governments, he said.
